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E. E. EAYDEN. STORE SERVICE APPARATUS. N0. 273,526. Patentd Ma.r.6,1883.

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STORE 'SERVICE APPARATUS.

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UNITED STATES HARRIS H. HAYDEN,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

STORESERVICEAPPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 273,525, dated March 6,1883.

Application nieu November 4, iesi. (No model.) v

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRrs H. HAYDEN, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inStore-Service Apparatus,'ot` which the fol` to improve the means oftransportation and the construction of the ways, propellers, andcarriers, and of the connecting and releasing appliances.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating my improvedmode of supporting and propelling the carriers. Fig. 2 is a perspectiveviewillustrating my improvements embodied in apparatus ot' a somewhatdifferent construction. Fig. 3 is a plan view illustrating a system ofgraduated stops. Fig. 4 is a cross-section through a supporting-way,driving-cablekand carrier. Fig. 5 is a side view of part of theretaining and detaching appliance. Fig. 6 is a perspective viewof aretaining-dog and a locking and releasing device. Fig. 7 is across-section on the line l 2, Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is aperspective view,showing parts of a way and driver-rope with a carrier and retaining andreleasing appliances. Fig. 8ab is a detached perspective view of thedevice for securing the carrier-cover.l Fig. 9 is a side view of-part ofthe device shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 10 is a side view of the receiver atthe terminal station. Figs. 11 and l2 are views illustrating theconstruction of the ways for conducting the carriers toward the desk.Fig. 18 is a perspective view, showing a modilication of the terminalreceiver.

Letters Patent of the United States bearing date July 6, 1880, weregranted to J. O. White for a store-service system in which a series ofcarriers were propelled between the desk and counters of a store byapparatusdriven from a suitable motor. In practically carrying out thissystem I have made certain improvements in the modes of supporting,propelling, retaining, and releasing, which greatly facilitate theoperations, and which I will now proceed to describe.

Theway consists of ahollowrailor equivalent structure serving to supportthe carriers directly or indirectly, as hereinafter described.

As shown in Fig. l, the way is a split tube, A, with its slot uppermost,supported beneath or over the counters in any desired position, and anendless rope, chain, band, or cable, B, moves in the tube, and isprovided at intervals with fingers or catches c, that extend through theslot and bear upon some portion of the carrier C, which slides upon theway, rollers a reducing the friction.

The carrier may be detached by means of a stationary pointed,stop, D,suitably supported, so arranged as to catch a hook, b, projecting fromthe carrier, and thereby raising it'froni the catch a to release thesaine. Both the hook b and stop D may be graduated so that each carrierwill be arrested at its own counter, as are the carriers described inWhites Patent No. 229,783. While both means are effective intransporting and arresting the carrier, I find it preferable to reversethe tube, and ernwploy appliances whereby to detach and drop the carrierinto a suitable receptacle below the point where succeeding carrierswould strike the same.

Fig. 2 represents the way with its slot at the bottom, (a form I preferfor the return-way carrying the articles from the desk to the counters,)and appliances for use with said way, the catches a projecting downwardand hooking under dogs on the carriers, which dogs, on being released,permit the carrier to drop.

The tube A may be cylindrical, as shown in Fig. 2, the catches a beingconnected to sleeves o, that receive the cable B, and tit nicely in thetube, and constitute bearings or slides supporting the weight of thecarriers; but in Figs. 4 and 8 I have shown a tube formed with a hollowrib, t, to receive the driving-cable, and with two parallel flanges,woo, which constitute ways, and friction-wheels d, which turn onjournals projecting from an attachment on the cable, so as to reduce thefriction of the supporting devices in passing along the ways.

This form of tube also secures increased stift'- ness and rigidity. Thecatch a has a horizontal terminal finger, which catches beneath the twotilting dogs e e, which are pivoted or otherwise movably secured to lugsff upon the carrier, so that the dogs may be brought to a horizontalposition, as shown in Fig. 4, to form a bearing ybeneath which the iinger catches. The lugs ff are on opposite sides or parts ot' asubstantially U-shaped guide, G, secured to the carrier, the sides oranges gg of the guide overlapping those ofthe tube A, and serving toprevent the turning or detlecting ofthe carrier as it moves beneath thetube, especially when it comes in contact with its stop.

With each dog is connected a locking device, which device I have made indifferent ways, that shown in the drawings being most eii'ective, andconsisting ot' a lever, H, provided with a notched hub, h, through whichextends the pivot j, said hub occupying a position beneath the heelofthe dog and holding it horizontal until one oi the notches is broughtbeneath the dog and permits the latter to tilt.

The arrangement of the notches it' is shown in Fig. 7, where it will beseen that so long as the lever His vertical the periphery of the hub his in contact with and prevents the tilting ot' the dog; but if thelever is turned to either side one of the notches i is brought below thelever and the dogs are tilted, as shown in Fig. S, aud escape from thehook as the carrier drops. A spring, k, tends to maintain theleververtical by bearing on a Hat side or face, u, of the hub, Fig. G, and aplate, I, ou the tube A serves as a stop, against which both levers Hare brought when the carrier is at the station i where it should bedropped, the dropping being etfected whatever end ot' J:he carrier maybe foremost, one or more receptacles, L, being arranged to receive thecarrier at a point sut'- iiciently lowr to prevent the succeedingcarriers from striking any which may be in the receptacle. Thesereceptacles may be directly under the track;` or they may be inclined atau angle, so as to move the carriers away in an oblique direction. Toguard against any accidental detaching and dropping ot' the carriers ibetween the receptacles, I provide continuous safety-guards to catch andretain the carriers in such event, these guards being provided withopenings opposite the stops where the receptacles L are placed. In caseof such accidental dropping ot' a carrier it may remain in the rackuntil pushed into a receptacle by a following carrier, or by one of thetingers on the belt. One form of guard is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2as consisting ot' rods S3v S3, extending parallel with the way.

The stops I are graduated,and the levers H are arranged as shown Fig. 3,each stop being wider or longer, orv both, than that which precedes it,there sometimes being a double sys- 'tem ofgraduation, both as to widthand length,

so. as to increase the number of practicable stops in the line, and thelevers H of each carrier are so separated or adjusted'as to length as topass every stop except that at the station where the carrier is to bedetached.

A convenient mode of connecting the stops is to secure a block, K, tothe folded portion ofthe tube A, Fig. 8, and to bolt the stopplates I tothe sides Ot' this block. This permits the stops to be easily adjustedto any required position. The same form ofbloek may also be used insupporting the way-tube by fastening the block to the arms shown in Fig.2. Y

1t will be obvious that the dogs c may slide instead of tilt, and thatthe position ofthe dogs and support may be reversed, and that the dogsmay bite directly on the cable. On the track leading from the salesmento thepackers desk it may be preferable, instead ot' supporting thecarriers on the hooks a, to use a supplemental way, A', of any suitableconstruetion, two bars, c c, being shown in Figs. 1l and l2. This wayextendslbeneaththe cable, and the carriers may be placed therein andpropelled by contact with the hooks a, or preferably by fingers 0.2,alternating with the hooks ou the belt or cable. Friction-rollers may bearranged at any point to reduce friction. This plan permits the carriersto be deposited at any point with but little attention from thesalesman, and avoids risk ot' injury by the falling of the carriers.It'dcsired, it may be adopted on the return-way.

As it is not always convenient to remove and empty each carrier as soonas it is brought to the paekers desk, I provide appliances for receivingand retaining the carriers as they are successively brought down to thepackers. This may be eti'ected by different appliances.

Where the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 8 is employed, a trough-likereceptacle, J, Fig.-

10, may be arranged beneath the way at the receiving-desk, and a stop,I, large enough to open all the locks, may be placed so that eachcarrier brought in on a hook will be dropped after it has pushed thecarriers in the receptacle (if any are already there) sufficientlyforward to afford. room for it to be deposited; or where the carriersare sent down the line as shown in Figs. 10 and l1 they are pushed oneby one into the packers receptacle J', which is lower than the way A andallows the iingers to pass over carriers lying therein.

Another form ot' receiver is shown in Fig. 13, where a stand supportsshafts N N with pulleys, round which pass endless bands q, connected bycross-bars u, provided with curved rests i', adapted to hold thecarriers, as shown. As a. carrier is dropped into the uppermost pair ot'rests it strikes the end 'of a catch, s, projecting from a rock-shaft,t', and disconnects the same from the cross-bar u, and the bands thenturn by the weight of the carrier, which descends until the catchengages with the next cross-bar. By this means each carrier is receivedand held in place until it dc- IOO IOS

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when in place, and is secured permanently butv adjustably by a bar, M,extending through lugs n on the body. A spiral spring, p, tends -toldraw the cap toward the body, and the end of the bar M may be pressedupon by the nger to throw out the Vcap until the flange y is out of thebody, when the cap will swing away from the end of the body. When thecap turns down afshoulder, w, on the cap is brought op- Y posite a lip,Z, on the body, and the rod M and cap are retained in a forward positionuntil the cap is brought exactly into position opposite the body, whenthe shoulder will escape from the lip, and the cap will be drawn backinto place by the spring. By thus keeping the cap forward it may beturned to its position without its flange y striking the body andinterfering with its movement, thus obviating the necessity of drawingup the cap to close the carrier.

It will be apparent that the way arranged beneath the cable, as shown inFigs. 11and 12, with push-pins a2, does not prevent the use of the hooksor catches a for conveying the carriers when necessary, and that insuchcase it prevents .injury from the detaching of the carriers accidentallyfrom their hooks. I do not here claim this construction, however, as itwill form the subject of a separate application for Letters Patent.

In a separate application for Letters Patent I have claimed the movementof carriers upon slotted tubes through which travels a continuous beltprovided with push-pins. This I do not here claim.

kI do not claim the invention of devices for detaching the carriersautomatically at their respective stations; but

I claim- 1. In a store-'service apparatus, the combination of astationary way consisting of a split tube, carriers and devices forsupporting the carriers upon the tube, and a traveling cable and devicesfor connecting the same detachably to the carriers, substantially asspecified.

2. The combination of a slottedor split tubular way, a cable'moving inthe way and provided with catches for engaging with carriers supportedby the Way, and stop devices, substantially as set forth, to disconnecteach carrier from the way at the proper station, as specified.

3, In a store'service apparatus, a way consisting of a split tube,combined with a traveling cable provided with catches, and bearingssupported upon the way, substantially as set forth.

4. The within-described way for store-servavasae s ice apparatus,consisting of a tube slotted at the lower side, and provided withflanges to support a bearing connected to the cable, substantially asset forth.

5. The combination of the slotted tube, cable, catch, and bearingprovided with friction-rollers d d, substantiallyy as set forth.

6. The combination of the traveling cable, and way consisting of aslottedtube having flanges, and carriers with guides G, embracing thetube, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination ofthe slotted tube, and stops consisting of plates I,secured to the tube, substantially as specified.

8. The combination, with the traveling cable and carriers, of jawsarranged upon one of the same and holding the carrier to the cable,lock-y ing devices, and stopsV arranged to make contact with saidlocking devices to open Vthe jaws and disconnect the carriers from thecables, substantially as set forth.

9. The combination of the traveling cable provided with catches, and thecarriers each provided with kpivoted dogs, and locking devicesconstructed to release the dogs when moved in either directionLand stopsI, substantially as set forth.

10. The combination of the carrier, pivoted t dogs e, and levers H,provided with notched hubs l1., substantially as specilied.

11. The combination ofthe way, cable, carriers, stops, and receptaclesL, arranged below the stops, substantially as set forth. f 12. Thecarrier open at one end and provided with a cap, in combination with arod,M, turning in bearings a on the carrier, and with a spring, p, andthe shoulder 1v, and lip Z, arranged as set forth.

13. The combination, with the way, cable, and terminal stop I, of areceptacle arranged to .receive and hold the carriers as they aresuccessively dropped from the cable bycontact with said stop,substantially as set forth.

14. The combination, with the way, cable, and stop device I, of thereceiving-rack J, arranged as specified.

15. The combination, with the cable and its v conveying devices, of away arranged beneath the same to receive the carriers, substantially asset forth.

16. rlhe combination of the way, cable, devices whereby the carriers aremoved by and with the cable, and receptacles J, substantially as setforth.

17. The combination, with a traveling cable andv appliances wherebycarriers l. are moved with and automatically detached fromv the cable,of receptacles arranged to receive and retain the carriers when sodetached, substantially as specified.

18. The combination, with a carrier, of a guide, G, constructed andarranged to prevent the turning of said carrier, substantially asspecified.

19. The combination, in a store-service system, of Ways, travelingcarriers, detaching de- Ioo i IIO IIS

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Vices arranged opposite the respective stato this specification in thepresence of two subtions, and constructed to disconnect each carscribingWitnesses. riet' at the station to which it belongs, and re- HARRIS HHA'YDEN ceptacles at said stations, supported in fixed 5 positions toreceive the carriers when detached, Witnesses:

and constructed as set forth. F. W. BAILEY,

In testimony whereot'lhave signed my name FRANK B. COLEMAN.

